MailmanDave
17 Years Experience
Long Island, NY
Male, 43
I am a City Letter Carrier for the US Postal Service in NY. I've been a city letter carrier for over 17 years and it is the best job I've ever had. I mostly work 5 days per week (sometimes includes a Saturday) and often have the opportunity for overtime, which is usually voluntary. The route I deliver has about 350 homes and I walk to each of their doors to deliver the mail. Please keep in mind that I don't have authority to speak for the USPS, so all opinions are solely mine, not my employer.
I don't think you'd get in trouble for that. The recipient may question why the mail and documents look water damaged but I don't know that they could pinpoint it was you who sent it in that condition. Mail is often wet when I deliver it in the rain. It's difficult during downpours to keep it dry and to be honest I don't try that hard to keep it completely dry. The bottom of my mail satchel gets wet very easily so when I carry mail in it the edge of the mail will often get wet. If the recipient has an issue with the condition their mail came in they may just ask you to resubmit the documents if that is possible. Thanks for the question and I hope I helped you.
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GG, I don't really have a suggestion for you. If it were affecting your mail delivery in any way I'd be quite upset and concerned. In theory, they shouldn't keep holding someone's mail for pickup indefinitely. I mean they shouldn't be able to have their mail held, pick it up, and then just put it on hold again. The solution for that person would be to rent a PO Box and have their mail forwarded to it. I know we often won't hold mail for individuals at a certain address. We usually hold the entire mail for an entire address but I can't quote you any internal policies on this because I don't know them. If any mail for the previous owner actually gets delivered to your house, I'd say that you should feel free to discard it since the PO isn't helping you at all. I know it sounds vindictive but the person who moved out or sold the property should either fill out a proper COA or just not care about any mail addressed to him at your current residence.
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It's very common for people not to check their mailbox daily (me included). If there is mail in there from previous days I generally wouldn't look for any outgoing mail. Outgoing mail should have uncanceled postage and be clearly visible when you open the mailbox. Sometimes people leave the lid open or place the letters vertically to show that they have outgoing mail. If the item has no postage I just leave it there. Other people or companies aren't supposed to leave items in a mailbox but it's common and I just ignore it. Landscapers or oil delivery companies sometimes leave an invoice in the mailbox. Every now and again I forget to take someone's outgoing mail, but not often. Some mailboxes may have a red plastic flag that is put in the "up" position to notify the letter carrier that there may be outgoing mail. Upon collection of the mail, the letter carrier should put the flag in the "down" position. These flags are more common in a rural or suburban delivery environment.
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Sarah, if you live on a rural route I believe that is part of their job but not sure. If you have city delivery (which is the type of delivery I do) there is generally no obligation of the letter carrier to accept the package and money and mail it for you. Most people now with access to the internet and printer can print out their own postage label to be put onto a parcel and then given to a letter carrier (who should take the package) for mailing. The program used to be called Click 'N Ship. It is rare that a customer ever asks me to mail a non-prepaid parcel for them. I would say no almost all of the time because I'd have to then mail the package on my own time and don't want to get into a habit of doing that. The bottom line is that you certainly can ask your letter carrier to mail the package for you but not sure what the response will be. Thank you for your question.
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This job message board isn't a customer service site to advise when mail will be delivered to a specific address. Depending on staffing and quality of the operations at your local PO will have an impact as to when your mail is delivered. In my experience mail is usually delivered between 0930 and 1800 but have heard about mail being delivered much later in some locations. If you called the USPS general customer service number i don't think they'd give you anymore of a specific answer either.
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Jessica, that is an interesting story. A little bit of light soap opera drama perhaps. Thanks for sharing your story and glad I could help with any insight of how easy (or not easy) it is to change routes.
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I don’t know anything about the claims process and what type of compensation you’d be entitled to beyond the cost of mailing the item unless you purchased insurance or if the type of mailing has insurance associated with it. The carrier shouldn’t have signed for a restricted delivery item. It shouldn’t break your heart to do this. I’d be more aggravated by not getting a service you paid for. To be honest, I often sign for customers when they have certified letters or packages that ask for a signature confirmation. This is mainly because I know most of the people who I deliver mail to. It hasn’t come back to haunt me, yet. I wouldn’t sign for a domestic registered item or for a Restricted Delivery item. As far as how to file a claim, you could go to a Post Office and inquire about the process or perhaps look at www.usps.com for guidance.
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